This invention relates generally to a computerized information system and method using object-centric virtual database(s) and analyses which are advantageously suited to transportation safety applications, such as for the aviation industry (in which case the aircraft may be the unit of observation i.e. xe2x80x9cobjectxe2x80x9d referred to herein), as well as for health and other safety monitoring applications.
As is true for many transportation and health areas, the aviation industry generates a number of different reports relating to a variety of safety-related occurrences which are available to the public (either through the Internet or on request to the source). Appendix A herein sets out a summary of several sources of these reports and the meaning of various terms used in the aviation industry in relation to reporting. Individual aircraft are identified in accident reports, incident reports, mechanical reliability reports of failures (also referred to as service difficulty reports or xe2x80x9cSDRsxe2x80x9d) and engine reliability reports. In some other available reports pertinent information is provided but not in relation to a specific aircraft. For example, as stated in Appendix A, reports in the Aviation Safety Report System (ASRS) do not identify individual aircraft. In addition, Airworthiness Directives (and the automated exemption lists which may be provided therein) stipulate generally directed requirements for inspecting and/or fixing potential problems. Similarly, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations to the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and their outcomes, as well as FAA enforcement data on regulatory violations, provide additional sources of safety-related occurrences. Examples of some other safety-related data types include pilot factors, airport and air traffic management.
There is no automated means available to analyse multiple records from such publicly available sources for objects such as individual aircraft. Nor is there available any means for performing statistical analyses of trends and/or rates of non-accident occurrences (examples of which are SDRs, engine reliability reports and incidents) on such multiple records across various files let alone the same file for an individual object such as an aircraft. Consequently, the existing aviation safety systems cannot identify single aircraft with multiple problems and, because they do not identify rates, they do not provide any measure of risk which would permit a comparison of models or operators or identification of changes in trends.
Accordingly, there is a need for means to perform longitudinal analyses on individual safety/health-related objects (such as an aircraft or a patient) to enable a comparison of different groups of objects (such as aircraft models and operators). In particular, for example, there is a need for a means of standardizing public and/or private data providing non-accident safety-related information such as mechanical difficulties, as well as operational data, relating to aircraft and for analyzing such data on an object-centric basis to identify and predict potential problem areas and risks. The term xe2x80x9cobjectxe2x80x9d includes anything physical such as an aircraft, nuclear reactor or other environmental hazard for which safety-related events are monitored as well as anything which is the subject of events such as a drug or treatment for which the events to be monitored may include reactions to the drug or a disease for which the events may include symptoms.
In accordance with the invention there is provided an information system for analyzing data comprised of events pertaining to an object class (e.g. aircraft). The system comprises a data access component configured for accessing a database comprising at least one set of data records (service difficulty reports) whereby each data record pertains to an event for an individual object (e.g. an individual aircraft) and comprises a plurality of data fields, at least one of the data fields comprising an identifier identifying one individual object. A user interface component receives user-selected criteria for field values of the data fields. A selection component is configured for selecting those of the data records which correspond to the user-selected criteria. An analysis component is configured for analyzing the data records including identifying the selected data records according to a chronological sequence of events for individual objects covered by the selected data records, whereby each individual object covered by the selected data records is associated with a longitudinal set of data records, and deriving output data for the events from the longitudinal sets of data records.
Preferably, the data fields comprise a plurality of identifiers and a preprocessor component identifies multiple sub-databases from the selected data records whereby each sub-database comprises data records identified by one of the identifiers. Preferably, a plurality of sets of data records are provided, each being derived from a different source, whereby the sets of data records are integrated to form the database. The information provided by one set of data records may be used to supplement other data records of the database and the information provided by another one of the sets of data records may be used to correct erroneous data field values in data records obtained from any source.
A graphizer output component is preferably provided for graphically displaying the output data by multi-result inter-related graphs. The analysis component may be configured for identifying chronological trends for one or more individual objects and/or data records, for surveiling the events on a chronological basis for one or more individual objects, for standardizing the data reports and individual objects as between the different originating sources thereof (e.g. based traffic patterns for each individual aircraft and the types of aircraft models of each originating source), for comparing on a chronological basis and measured from a user-selected event the events pertaining to one individual object and the events pertaining to a user-selected comparison group of objects, for normalizing the field values for a set of data fields and outputting the resulting normalized data, for identifying related data records of the data records, for identifying a statistically high number of events for an individual object within a designated time period and/or for rating the originating sources of the data records on the basis of the diligence of the originating sources in reporting events.